Gondola Place Cards

We celebrated Gnocchi Night this past Saturday. I watched the Rick Steves episode on Venice the weekend before, so I was in a gondola mood when I made these place cards.

These went through SEVERAL variations before I settled on the final product. I tried using shredded crepe paper for the seats, which led to this conversation:

Tina: "Does this look like an opulent gondola or a submarine on fire?"

Andy: "It looks like a Viking ship that is in serious trouble."

Tina: "Damn. What do I do to make them opulent?"

Andy: "I don't know. But not that. Put these on. They'll help." <hands me my glasses>

I finally gave in and cut some boring seats, but wanted to do something special for the birthday guests. I was trying to tie some paper balloons to them (Harder then it sounds. Believe me.) when it hit me. A  FULL OF BALLOONS! Now *that* is a world that I want to live in. I just need to learn Italian to make it happen. And take someone to Venice for their birthday.

Gnocchi Nights Past: 2011, 2012